All of that and much more is just ahead in this Wednesday edition of the Daily Drive-Thru.

NEWS:

New self-driving guidelines expected next week

File Photo - A prototype of Google's own self-driving vehicle is seen during a media preview of Google's current autonomous vehicles in Mountain View, California September 29, 2015. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

(Reuters)

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is expected to unveil revised federal guidelines for self-driving vehicles next Tuesday, according to a report from Reuters. These recommendations will come on the heels of a Congressional vote that is expected to speed up the deployment of fully autonomous cars.

Before leaving office, the Obama Administration released a set of 15 voluntary guidelines for automakers to follow in the production of self-driving cars and recommended that cars be submitted for government testing before being released to consumers. Look for Chao to reverse that course with her announcement next week.

Nissan unveils all-new Leaf

Despite being one of the first affordable electric vehicles on the road, the Nissan Leaf has fallen behind the ever-growing pack on a couple important fronts: total range and exterior design being chief among them. Today, Nissan rolled out a full redesigned Leaf that addressed those two issues and then some.

Able to drive 150 miles on a single charge, the Leaf is now near the front of the ranks, offering more battery efficiency than the Honda Clarity, Hyundai Ioniq Electric and even the BMW i3. It still can’t drive quite as many miles between charges as the Chevrolet Bolt EV or the Tesla Model 3, but it gained ground on those two vehicles as well.

Ford announces EcoSport pricing

Positioned beneath the Ford Escape in the SUV lineup, the 2018 EcoSport comes available in four trims: S, SE, SES and Titanium.

(Ford)

When Ford’s new subcompact crossover arrives in the U.S. for the 2018 model year, it will dive into the middle of an increasingly crowded group of vehicles. I don’t mean that in the strict metaphorical sense, it will literally be in the middle of the pack when it comes to retail price.

Starting at $19,999 after delivery, this small SUV is cheaper than the Honda HR-V, Jeep Renegade and Buick Encore, though not quite as cost-effective as the Mazda CX-3 or Kia Soul, at least not in its base package.

GALLERIES

Mazda refreshes the CX-9 for 2018

Picking up a set of advanced safety features and a new standard G-Vectoring control system, Mazda’s largest SUV gets even bigger on value.

STREET SMART

What is Nissan ProPilot Assist?

Nissan's new ProPilot Assist system features adaptive cruise control with full stop and go capabilities as well as a lane-keeping feature that puts the vehicle squarely in the middle of its lane.

(Nissan)

One of the features touted in the all-new Nissan Leaf is ProPilot Assist, a semi-autonomous driver assistance system. So what does that really mean?

It can mean a few things, but in this case it basically means it uses adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assistance to help make life a little easier on drivers. While that might seem simple enough, there’s a little bit more to that than meets the eye.

Video: Tesla Model X crashes into garage door

The scratches left behind on the hood of Caneiro's 2 month old Tesla Model X.

One might think the toughest part about teaching a vehicle to park itself is getting it to go in the garage. However, as this Tesla owner found out first hand, getting it in there is only half the battle—the real trick is getting it to stay there.